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This article describes the development and assessment of teaching strategies to enhance student professional identity development by shifting the pedagogical focus from content knowledge to the practice of interpersonal and conflict resolution skills, and reflection to create awareness, observe growth, and find meaning.

Creating literature reviews encompasses skills that are central to psychology students' academic and professional lives, yet writing them consistently challenges students. Research shows that instruction leads to improvement in students' literature reviews within courses (Boscolo, Arfé, & Quarisa, 2007; Granello, 2001), but little work examines how such instruction carries over to other courses. Our study addresses this by comparing literature reviews from two required courses. Students are taught to write reviews in a psychology writing course (PSYC 205), and without additional instruction, students again write reviews in a Statistics and Research Methods course (PSYC 305). Do the skills transfer? A sample of PSYC 305 reviews (n = 17) was drawn and their PSYC 205 literature reviews obtained. All reviews were graded using the same rubric. A within-subjects comparison showed that students' PSYC 305 reviews were significantly improved. For a second between-subjects comparison, these PSYC 305 reviews were compared to the 305 reviews of students who did not have PSYC 205. The reviews of those who had PSYC 205 were significantly better than the reviews of those who did not. These combined results suggest that we can teach transferable literature review skills, and, given their importance, we suggest that psychology programmes should.

Investigated individual characteristics and peer influences related to adolescents' sexual behavior, considering gender and sexual experience. Students reported on intentions to engage in sexual activity and use condoms in the next year, amount of pressure to engage in sexual activity, and perceptions about the number of their peers engaging in sexual activity. Responses differed by gender and sexual experience status. (SM)

Objectives. We examined disparities in perinatal care, birth outcomes, and infant health between rural American Indian and Alaska Native (ALAN) persons and rural Whites over time. Methods. We compared perinatal and infant health measures for 217064 rural AIAN births and 5032533 rural non-Hispanic White births. Results. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, unadjusted rates of inadequate prenatal care (1985-1987, 36.3%; 1995-1997, 26.3%) and postneonatal death (1985-1987, 7.1 per 1000; 1995-1997, 4.8 per 1000) improved significantly. However, disparities between American Indians and Alaska Natives and Whites in adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of postneonatal death (1985-1987, AOR=1.65; 95% confidence interval [Cl]=1.41, 1.71; 1995-1997, AQR=1.46; 95% CI=1.31, 1.64) and adjusted risk ratios (ARRs) of inadequate prenatal care (1985-1987, ARR=1.67; 95% Cl=1.65, 1.69; 1995-1997, ARR=1.84; 95% Cl=1.81, 1.87) persisted. Conclusions. Despite significant decreases in inadequate prenatal care and postneonatal death among American Indians and Alaska Natives, additional measures are needed to close persistent health gaps for this group. (doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.119735)

This research examined the applicability of the theory of reasoned action to school-age children. Using structural equation modeling, we longitudinally modeled children's attitudes, norms, intentions, and behavior with regard to drinking alcohol. Respondents were 1,061 children attending public schools in the northwestern United States. Attitude, norms, and intentions (measured when the children were in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades) were used to predict alcohol use 1 year later. Two modifications of the model improved the overall fit at each grade level: separating attitude into 2 dimensions (positive and negative), and adding a path from social norm to behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

The article discusses a report of the substance use initiation during middle school. It highlights the data analysis and longitudinal study to access the effect of various emotional health factors which includes anxiety, depression and stress during middle school. It states that the students with higher level of teachers support had very low risk of alcohol initiation during middle school.

In 2-week-old rats, isolation from social companions in an unfamiliar place elicits ultrasonic vocalization rearing and locomotor behavior. These responses are prevented and close body contact is maintained if littermates or the dam are present. It has generally been believed that such isolation distress and comfort responses develop as a result of prior social experience. We reared pups in isolation from the third postnatal day and found essentially normal responses. A second experiment replicated and extended these results to pups reared in isolation from the day of birth. Isolation-reared pups did have higher levels of ultrasonic vocalization than their normally reared littermates, lower body weight, and lower post-test temperatures. We conclude that a lengthy period of close body contact and frequent social interactions with conspecifics are not necessary for the development of attachment responses in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]